Baghdad , Iraq -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- An audio message purportedly from the highest-ranking at-large member of Iraq 's Saddam Hussein regime has been released .

The speaker is identified as Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri , Iraq 's former military commander and vice president who has eluded capture since the fall of the Hussein regime more than seven years ago .

The message -- issued on the occasion of the 1968 bloodless coup that brought the Baath Party to power in Iraq -- saluted people who resist the `` occupation . ''

CNN has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the voice on the tape , posted Friday on a website devoted to national resistance in Iraq .

There have been at least five other purported audio messages from al-Douri .

Al-Douri , 66 , served as vice-chairman of Hussein 's Revolutionary Command Council . He has been reported killed and captured during the post-U.S. invasion insurgency , but those reports later turned out to be erroneous .

He is the King of Clubs -LRB- No. 6 -RRB- on the U.S. military 's card deck of most-wanted regime officials .

In the message , al-Douri calls himself `` secretary-general '' of the Baath Party .

The U.S. military says he has helped finance the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq with Iraqi funds he transferred to Syria before Hussein 's government collapsed in April 2003 .

However , the military says his influence has waned while he has been in hiding .

U.S. officials say al-Douri played key roles in the chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 and in putting down Kurdish and Shiite revolts after the 1991 Persian Gulf War .

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Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has erroneously been reported killed in the past

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He is the King of Clubs on most-wanted deck of cards

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The military says his influence has waned